Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts [Paperback]

Julian Rubinstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2005

DESCRIPTION: Elmore Leonard meets Franz Kafka in the wild, improbably true story of the legendary outlaw of Budapest. Attila Ambrus was a gentleman thief, a sort of Cary Grant--if only Grant came from Transylvania, was a terrible professional hockey goalkeeper, and preferred women in leopard-skin hot pants. During the 1990s, while playing for the biggest hockey team in Budapest, Ambrus took up bank robbery to make ends meet. Arrayed against him was perhaps the most incompetent team of crime investigators the Eastern Bloc had ever seen: a robbery chief who had learned how to be a detective by watching dubbed Columbo episodes; a forensics man who wore top hat and tails on the job; and a driver so inept he was known only by a Hungarian word that translates to Mound of Ass-Head. BALLAD OF THE WHISKEY ROBBER is the completely bizarre and hysterical story of the crime spree that made a nobody into a somebody, and told a forlorn nation that sometimes the brightest stars come from the blackest holes. Like The Professor and the Madman and The Orchid Thief, Julian Rubinsteins bizarre crime story is so odd and so wicked that it is completely irresistible.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This story of a bank robber who captured a nation's sympathy in post-Communist Hungary is a rollicking tale told with glee and flair. Attila Ambrus sneaked over the border from Romania into Hungary in the waning days of Communist rule. After talking his way onto a Hungarian hockey team, he turned to robbery to make some cash in the Wild West atmosphere of the early 1990s in Eastern Europe. As journalist Rubinstein shows, Ambrus was quite good at it. Taking advantage of poor police work, he took in millions in Hungarian currency and became a headline-grabber. He managed to stay at large for several years while continuing in his role as a back-up goalie on the ice. Rubinstein has a knack for telling a good story, and he captures well both Ambrus's appeal and the atmosphere of the first few years of capitalism in Hungary. Along the way, he introduces readers to memorable characters in addition to the appealing, alcoholic protagonist: the women Ambrus attracts and a Budapest detective driven out of office by the crime spree. While Rubinstein (whose work has been collected in Best American Crime Writing) overwrites at times, he has a rootin'-tootin' style that's a perfect fit for this Jesse James–like tale, which has the chance to be a sleeper that transcends nonfiction categories.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Hungarians loved Attila Ambrus; from Rubinstein’s appealing biography, it’s easy to see why. Rubinstein tells the story of this goalie-gone-bad with style and wit. He also maintains a historian’s impartiality, however, supported by a wealth of meticulous research. One reviewer complained that Rubinstein glossed over the misery of life in 1990s Hungary, but this was his only criticism of an engaging and informative tale. Readers of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber may not fall in love with Attila Ambrus as the Hungarians did, but his story will surely entertain them.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; First Edition edition (September 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316010731
• ISBN-13: 978-0316010733
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hello.
Thanks to those of you who have supported this book, a long road now more than 14 years since I started work on this story, which remains the greatest tale I've ever come across.

Attila Ambrus (the "Whiskey Robber") is now out of prison. I was with him in Hungary the day after his release. He is currently working as a ceramicist and living outside Budapest. The book, which was optioned by Johnny Depp, has continued to reach people around the world who are just beginning to hear about this story of a modern day folk hero, and a rare man who came to represent his times as much as he was shaped by them. More news soon on foreign publication. Spreading the word about the book is always appreciated.

The audio book -- which stars Eric Bogosian, Gary Shteyngart, Demetri Martin, Jonathan Ames, Tommy Ramone and others -- is available here (Audible) and on iTunes. It was a finalist for Best Audio Book of the Year in 2007, a totally independent production, for which everyone worked for free.

My personal website has links to my work, and other media from the book:
www.julianrubinstein.com

There is also a dedicated site for the book:
whiskeyrobber.com

I welcome you to join the Facebook page for the book, where more information about it, as well as news about the film, and Attila Ambrus and his prison sentence, etc, is posted.
www.facebook.com/whiskeyrobber

To follow me and my other work, you can visit my personal Facebook page.
www.facebook.com/julian.rubinstein1

You can also follow me on Twitter:
@j_rubins

I appreciate your interest in my work and I do my best to respond to all email.

Sincerely,
-Julian Rubinstein

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Miracle of Nonfiction Reporting Turned into Novel Suspense November 20, 2005

By M. JEFFREY MCMAHON TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Julian Rubensten the author says in an interview he couldn't believe no other writers were jumping on this true story of a Hungarian hockey player "supplementing" his income by robbing banks in the early 1990s. Most reviewers have already summarized the plot. If I can only add some things: This is more than a page-turning comedy full of colorful criminals and real-life Keystone Cops. This is a tragedy about a man who, dismissed by his father and ridiculed by his teammates as a homeless peasant, wanted to be loved, to be accepted and to be a somebody and who used his talents, cunning, and imagination to become a grotesque criminal. Atilla, the main character, is so endearing, which attests to Rubenstein's great writing skills.

Lovers of comic novels such as Confederacy of Dunces, The Gingerman or any of the farcical novels of Thomas Berger and Magnus Mills should love Ballad of a Whiskey Robber.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great book! November 13, 2004

By Peter Ormosi

Format:Hardcover

The story of Attila Ambrus is unbelievably fascinating. The history of Hungary is bitterly nice, full of historical surprises. To forge the two in one story seems to be a very difficult mission. To do it in a way that is entertaining and teaching in the same time is art. And to do all these by not being Hungarian? That I would say is impossible.

Julian Rubinstein proved to be a great artist who managed to do all what seemed impossible.

His interpretation is simply perfect. I am saying this as a Hungarian who lived in Hungary when the series of robberies happened and who knows how corrupt the country is (was?), which is probably an unavoidable consequence of transition from planned economy to a market economy.

When I first heard from this book, I was particularly curious to find out what a non-Hungarian would think about the stupendous story of the `whiskey robber' but I ordered the book with an immense feeling of discredit. I would have never expected that someone without the cultural background would ever understand those strange Hungarians :-)

Having read the book, I have to admit now that Julian Rubinstein was indeed able to do it so well that sometimes I had the feeling that the book was actually written by an English-speaking Hungarian. I think I could never give a compliment bigger and more honest than this.

I recommend the book to those that want to know more about what it felt like to be a Hungarian after the transition, to those who are curious to know the story of Attila, to those who love exciting criminal stories and great humour.

And if you're Hungarian? Then this book is a must for you! :)

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cops and Robbers of the Absurd December 2, 2004

By R. Hardy HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Hungary's most beloved criminal, Attila Ambrus, is locked away until 2016, but even now he is interviewed on television, as a commentator on current bank robberies since he was an expert, and even the dog he had when he was free (and who will probably never see him again) makes the news now and then. Attila won't say what his immediate plans are; he says he'd "be insincere" if he made remarks about planning to escape, but he is working on getting an education, and he loves reading. He has a huge encyclopedia of Hungarian history that even mentions him as a national folk hero. This is despite his alcoholism, addiction to gambling, womanizing, and career as the worst goalie ever in professional Hungarian hockey. The bizarre story is rollickingly told in _Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts_ (Little, Brown) by Julian Rubinstein. This hugely entertaining story would fail if it were fiction; Rubinstein has done lots of research, including hours of jailhouse interviews with the hero, and it is all true, but still incredible.

Attila escaped from Romania to Hungary in 1988, clinging to the bottom of a train. He wound up in Budapest penniless and friendless, and he had a funny accent. With unswerving determination, he caught on to a championship Budapest hockey club. Once he did get a chance to show his stuff on the ice, "... it didn't take long for the team to recognize the new kid's level of talent. Zero...." He didn't get paid, but he doubled as the team's janitor. He also drove the Zamboni, until while driving drunk one night, he drove it into the stands. Desperate for some better life, and for a better place to live than the stable he had found, he got drunk, put on a wig and some mascara, and knocked off a post office. It was easy. He went on to accomplish almost thirty drunken robberies over six years, always unfailingly polite to the tellers, even bringing them roses. Capture, of course, was sooner or later inevitable, as long as Attila kept playing the robbery game, and he was eventually arrested in 1999 and put into the escape-proof downtown jail. He became a television start; in interviews, he was poised, amused, and amusing, and Whiskey Robber television specials, biographies, and t-shirts all sold well. (Some of the t-shirts toted up his score of banks: "Whiskey Robber 28, Corrupt Cops 1".) His case became, as Rubinstein writes, a referendum on the government.

It only became more so when Attila broke from prison (by means of an escape rope made of shredded sheets and shoe laces) and started robbing again, increasing the power of his legend. People refused to turn him in. Even _Sports Illustrated_ got into the act, erroneously celebrating him as "one of the best goalies in his country's top pro league." Of course he got caught again, and has stayed in prison so far. Robbing banks is surely wrong, as is boozing at Attila's level, as is losing all gains to roulette, and Rubinstein never makes the mistake of idealizing the hero of his book, no matter what degree the Hungarians have. He is a troubled and unhappy man, and a talented and ingratiating one, who was puzzled and delighted by his own fame as he made headlines in the crime pages as well as the sports pages. Attila ought to be overjoyed by this hilarious, larger-than-life book portrait, but Rubinstein has also drawn a picture of a society that was battered by communism only to be let down by the capitalist bosses who took over. The hilarious tale is thus a sad one, too, for all its absurdity; hero criminals are only needed by the downtrodden.